Parshas Shemos

The Strife Factor

Moses did not grow up among the Jewish people, although he bore
them a passionate love. During the decrees of infanticide, an Egyptian
princess had discovered the infant Moses hidden among the bulrushes
of the Nile River and reared him as her own.

Although surrounded by luxury and opulence, the thought of his
people enslaved and oppressed gave Moses no rest. Finally, when he
was old enough, he set out to see firsthand the suffering of his people
and to find how he could help alleviate it. As he ventured forth, he
encountered a sadistic Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish laborer
brutally. Overcome with compassion, Moses struck down the Egyptian
tormentor and buried the corpse in the sand, unaware that he had been
observed by a pair of Jews named Dathan and Abiram.

The next day, Moses saw Dathan and Abiram fighting each other.

“Villain!” Moses cried. “Why do you strike your fellow Jew?”

They turned to Moses with disdain and said, “So what do you
propose to do? Will you murder us as you murdered the Egyptian?”

Moses was shocked. “Aha, the thing is known,” he cried out.

On the surface, it would seem that Moses was shocked at finding
out his killing of the Egyptian was no secret. But the Midrash reads a
deeper meaning into these words. Aha, Moses was saying, this is why
the Jewish people continue to suffer in exile. If they are capable of
strife and informing on each other, they are not deserving of redemption.

But let us reflect for a moment. Was this the worst of their sins?
The Jews had been thoroughly contaminated by Egyptian society. Their
behavior were barely distinguishable from that of the Egyptians; their
lives were characterized by idolatry and immorality. Nonetheless, in
spite of all this dreadful sinfulness, Moses had found the Jewish
suffering inexplicable. But now that he saw two Jews fighting, he finally
understood the cause of the Jewish exile. How can this be?

Furthermore, the Sages tell us the Second Temple was destroyed
because of unjustified hatred Jews harbored in their hearts against each
other. How are we to understand this? Many other sins incur
punishments far more severe that does unjustified hatred. Why then did
this particular sin bring on the destruction of the Temple and the
removal of the Divine Presence from among the Jewish people for
thousands of years?

The commentators point out that the revelation of the Divine
Presence in this world is really a paradox. How can the ultimate
manifestation of spirituality reside in a physical world? It can only be
done, they explain, by creating an oasis of spirituality to serve in the
physical world, an oasis composed not of physical elements such as
bricks and mortal, of soil and grass but of a community of people whose
spiritual essence is paramount in their existence. Collectively, these
people form an island of transcendent spirituality upon which the Divine
Presence descends.

But how do we measure if a community is genuinely spiritual? It is
in their relationships with others. Materialistic people see others as
adversaries and are always jealously protective of their own status and
domain. Spiritual people, in tune with eternity, are above these petty
concerns; strife and egotism have no place in their world. Therefore,
interpersonal relations are the barometer which tell us if the community
is worthy of having the Divine Presence in its midst. If the strife factor
is low, then the spirituality level is high, and Hashem comes among them.
In Egypt and at the end of the Second Temple era, however, the strife
factor was high, and the Divine Presence left the Jewish people.

Two boys were fighting in school, shouting and pummeling each
other until one of the teachers pulled them apart.

When tempers cooled, the teacher called the boys to the front of
the classroom.

“Do you understand what a terrible thing you did?” he asked.

“But he started up with me!” said one boy.

“Make two fists,” the teacher said to the boy.

The boy complied, and the teacher took the two fists in his hands
and pounded them against each other.

“Ouch!” the boy screamed. “It hurts!”

“Exactly,” said the teacher. “When your friend suffers pain, it should
also hurt you. When you hit him, it is as if you are hitting yourself!”

In our own lives, as we aspire to raise our level of our spirituality
through studying the Torah and living by its values and ideals, how can
we determine if we are truly connecting with the divine? We can do so
by measuring the strife factor in our daily existence. If we live in
harmony with other people, appreciating the goodness inherent in all of
them, if our lives are essentially free of strife and discord, then we have
indeed attained a high level of spirituality and forged an eternal bond
with our Father in Heaven.